The 13 Hardest Restaurant Reservations in America Right Now

People will travel thousands of miles, wait for hours to get a table, and spend big bucks for truly delicious food. But at some restaurants, you have to do even more than that to get a seat. At Talula’s Table, a farm-fresh, one-table restaurant outside of Philadelphia, you have to make a dinner reservation exactly one year in advance, at 7:00 a.m. sharp (and you can’t have more than 12 diners). At Thomas Keller’s The French Laundry, you need to book it one month out and hope you’re lucky enough to get a reservation. And at Frank Pellegrino’s Rao’s in New York City’s East Harlem neighborhood, perhaps the king of them all when it comes to the hardest reservation in the land, tables are bought up to a year in advance by the likes of Woody Allen and Bill Clinton. You might have better luck winning the lottery than getting a table there.

Here, James Beard Foundation executive vice president Mitchell Davis, who also holds a chair on the Academy of the London-based World’s 50 Best Restaurants, shares his expert picks for 13 of the hardest restaurants in America to get a reservation at right now. Good luck trying to eat at one of these spots.

Expand

Photo: Courtesy of The Lazy Bear

Lazy Bear, San Francisco
“It’s because it was underground, and now everyone knows about it and wants to check it out, and it only does a 40-person seating. And it’s really good.”

Talula’s Table, Kennett Square, Pennsylvania
“They only have one table. It’s not a new thing, but everyone I know says it’s really great, and everyone is trying to get in there.”

Expand

Photo: Getty Images

Rao’s, New York City
“The perennial one in Manhattan for decades . . .”

Rose’s Luxury, Washington, D.C.
“In Washington in general, they have this funny system that makes it hard to get into a couple of restaurants. You have to line up to get a time to come eat at another time. I once got in line at Rose’s Luxury at, like, 4:00 p.m., and when we finally got to the front of the line before they open at 5:30, they told us they would have a table for us at 11. I ultimately did eat there and it was delicious.”

Expand

Photo: Courtesy of Brooklyn Fare

Blanca, Momofuku Ko, and Brooklyn Fare, New York City, and The Catbird Seat, Nashville
“There is the whole thing now where restaurants just have like 10 seats around the counter, of which there are plenty like Blanca, Momofuku Ko, and Brooklyn Fare in New York City, and The Catbird Seat in Nashville. They just don’t have any seats. It’s really good and you can’t go there.”

The Polo Bar, New York City
“Probably the clubbiest, hardest place to get into because it wants to be the clubbiest, hardest place to get into—and it’s Ralph Lauren’s restaurant.”

Expand

Photo: Courtesy of @master_villain

Next, Chicago
“There is this new trend of ticketing for restaurants. There’s the Alinea and Next model. With that, the challenge is: People have bought and paid. At a lot of places, people make a reservation and then don’t show up, so you still might have a chance of getting in at some point. If they book and pay, they are more likely to not cancel.”